A Stark Contrast
by GirHugs
Summary: Hopefully one day Tony would be self-assured enough to know that just because Howard had changed, it was in no way a reflection on Tony himself. (Warning: implied child abuse)


**A/N:** First thing I've written in...a long time.

I don't own the Avengers.

* * *

"You have to stop bringing him up."

Steve stopped, fist frozen in the air, poised to strike the punching bag once more. A moment of confusion washed over him as he turned to look at Bruce.

This was not the first time Steve and Tony had gotten into a shouting match – and Steve doubted it would be the last – but Bruce usually helped with the conflict resolution by talking to his fellow genius, not the soldier.

Steve gave Bruce a frustrated and lost look, not understanding why Tony always got so _defensive_ whenever he even mentioned Howard. "I don't–"

"You have to stop," Bruce cut him off, voice firm and in control.

"But if Tony would just–"

"No."

"I lost everyone, Bruce," Steve snapped, temper rising as Bruce continued to cut him off. That was usually a tactic used by Tony in their verbal spats and it always pissed Steve off to no end that he couldn't seem to get even a single word in. "Memories are all I have and I would think Tony could be understanding enough to listen to a few stories about his own father."

Bruce strode further into the gym, the first flash of anger glinting green across his eyes. "You can share memories of Howard Stark with any of us, Steve. Just _not_ Tony," the usually mild-mannered scientist bit out.

Steve tilted his chin up, stubborn and willful and ready to fight for his right not to have to try and navigate a freaking minefield when talking to Tony about his past.

"My father used to beat me."

The words were spoken so calmly that it took a few moments for the heavy weight of them to settle in Steve's brain. When Steve finally registered the words, Bruce continued on before the captain could even think of some useless platitude.

"He used to get drunk, all the time," Bruce swiped his glasses off his face and started cleaning them with his shirt, his restless hands an obvious contradiction to the composed cadence of his words. "He was an angry drunk and he would beat my mother and me once his temper got bad enough."

Steve took a step closer to his teammate, feeling immensely sympathetic to Bruce's far less-than-perfect childhood.

"Howard," Steve started carefully, defensive of the man in the face of Bruce's implied accusation. "Howard never beat Tony. He wasn't abusive."

Bruce's lips thinned out into a grim line, "Not physically abusive, no. But sometimes the most damaging scars are the ones you can't see."

Steve swallowed thickly, stomach churning uncomfortably, but nodded in agreement. He knew Howard had…changed after the war, but he figured Tony would… "I just wanted to tell Tony about the Howard I knew. He was a real jerk sometimes, even before, but he was also a great man."

"I'm sure he was," Bruce agreed softly. "But it's still…" Bruce took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. "It's _cruel_, Steve. To keep bringing up the version of Howard you knew in the hopes that it will somehow…what? Erase the version of Howard that Tony grew up with?"

Bruce moved to the side of the gym and sat down heavily on the bench. Hands clasped together, he seemed to lose himself in thought for a moment. "My mother used to do that too," he admitted.

Taking the seat next to Bruce, Steve waited patiently for Bruce to continue. Bruce was rarely talkative about his past and Steve made sure to be open to whatever Bruce wanted to share.

"She used to tell me these stories about how she met my father," Bruce spoke with a wry smile on his face. "She would tell me about how they used to be so happy together and that he didn't always used to drink, that he wasn't always so…so," Bruce clenched his hands, his teeth grinding together. "_Angry_."

"I know she thought she was helping," Bruce continued after a stilted pause. "She thought it would somehow make our situation better if she could just focus on the past, focus on how he _used_ to be."

"And it probably did help," Bruce said thoughtfully. "It probably comforted _her_ to remember him the way he was before. The man she would describe in those stories…he sounded great, wonderful even. She probably thought it would make me happy to know about who my father used to be…but it didn't."

"It was not a _comfort_ to know about the kind man my father used to be. All it did was make me question what was so wrong with _me_ that my own father couldn't be that kind man for me too."

"It wasn't your fault that your father changed," Steve said softly but firmly.

Bruce gave a slow nod of acknowledgement. "It wasn't Tony's either, but that doesn't mean he doesn't sit down in his lab and agonize over what he did so wrong as a child that he got the version of Howard he knew rather than the one you did." Bruce turned to meet Steve's gaze, his eyes dark and somber. "You're not helping Tony by telling him about how Howard was _before_, Steve. You're being cruel."

Steve's brows furrowed as he considered Bruce's words carefully. He wasn't sure what to say. It had never been his intention to hurt Tony, he simply wanted to share stories about the great man he knew Howard to be, but…well, he could see Bruce's point. For all that Tony acted brash and confident – and he actually was in most instances – the engineer also had the tendency of being terribly insecure about certain things.

He thought Tony would have realized that it was the war and Howard's own difficulties with coping afterwards that led to the stark contrast between the Howard that Steve knew and the one Tony did. But now…

Now Steve can only too well imagine Tony taking responsibility for Howard's change, thinking that if only he had been a smarter, better, more _worthy_ child, then Howard would have been the same for him as he was for Steve.

"I never intended to…I'm not somehow better than Tony just because I knew a different version of Howard."

"I know," Bruce answered. "Tony does too, but sometimes…sometimes that insecure little child has too loud a voice to ignore."

"Yeah," Steve nodded slowly to himself, resolute not to alienate Tony further. "I'll stop, I promise."

"Good," Bruce patted Steve's leg before standing up. "Who knows," he said as he turned to leave. "Maybe one day he'll ask you to share those stories. Just…wait for him to tell you when _he's_ ready."

Steve dipped his head in agreement, hoping that one day Tony would be self-assured enough to know that just because Howard had changed, it was in no way a reflection on Tony himself.


End file.
